By DAILY PRESS STAFF
Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing series that tracks the second and final reading of ordinances approved by the City Council. Second readings are held without public comment, although the issues have been discussed, often at length, during prior City Council meetings.
CITY HALL The City Council will now have the authority to follow the lead of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by declaring a water crisis. Following a particularly dry season, the council on Tuesday passed the Water Conservation Ordinance, a law that will permit the governing body to declare a water supply shortage and adopt a response plan.
Schwarzenegger last week declared a drought in California, hinting that the state might have to ration water to cities if the situation does not improve. City Hall imports roughly 86 percent of its water from the Metropolitan Water District, producing the remainder from groundwater wells and the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility.
Santa Monica has relied on the MWD since five groundwater production wells were shut down as a result of MTBE contamination in 1996,the gasoline additive discovered to be leaking from underground storage tanks and pipes owned by several oil companies and polluting the city’s aquifer.City Hall has since settled with the oil companies and is in the process of beginning construction on a treatment plant, which officials hope will be in operation by 2010.
“Santa Monica water customers have been proactive in conserving water since the last severe drought in the early 1990s,” according to a staff report, referring to restrictions imposed during that time. “These restrictions have helped the city’s water use to remain steady even though the daytime population has significantly increased.”
City Hall has adopted several water conservation programs during the past several years, including the “20-Gallon Challenge” in 2007, asking residents to save at least 20 gallons of water every day, translating to roughly a 10 percent reduction in total water demand.
“Since August, water demand has declined each month for a total reduction of 6.7 percent,” the staff report states. “This consecutive monthly decrease is unprecedented since the last major drought.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 12, 2008. Read the original PDF.